‘Groundhog Day’ The Musical Gets Mixed Reviews

The "Groundhog Day" musical, which was launched on April 17 at  the August Wilson Theatre, garnered some mixed reviews.

According to Washington Post, the stage tricks were amazing, but the overlong stage version, which was well received in London before traveling to New York, "is enveloped in a cloud of charmlessness that never fully lifts, and ultimately confers on the production a sense of frenzied mechanical blandness."  

The musical, which is based on the 1993 film "Groundhog Day" starring Bill Murray, is directed by Matthew Warchus, the music is composed by lyricist Tim Minchin and is based on the book "Groundhog Day" written by the original movie's co-writer Danny Rubin.

According to Variety, reports state that due to Warchus' direction, the musical "Groundhog Day" feels like as fun and fantastic as "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland". The movie as well as the musical "Groundhog Day" depicts that repetition is the art of infinite variety. In the musical "Groundhog Day", the erudite lead performer Andy Karl (Phil Connors) has practiced this art very efficiently.

The story of "Groundhog Day" reveals Phil Connors as a self-centered Pittsburgh weatherman assigned to cover annual rite of celebrity groundhog, Punxsutawney-Phil, and his shadow, consistently for the third year. Pittsburgh-Phil reached to Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania along with his producer Rita Hanson (Barrett Doss) and a cameraman. At that place, the universal Déjà vu power forced Phil to relive one day repeatedly. Phil learned how to love life and humanity, through the whole time circle incidents. Of course, his love towards life includes Phil's love and inclination towards Rita.

In the musical "Groundhog Day" the role of Phil Connor is enriched with the performance of the Olivier Award winner, courageous, talented actor Andy Karl. He has showcased Phil's every emotional accent like- anger, wonder, omnipotence, drunken and nonchalant behavior, suicidal tendency etc through his brilliant acting. Reports state that somehow Andy has done better than Bill Murray, the former actor of "Groundhog Day". It's also reported that Barrett's acting is also self-possessed and interesting.

According to Chicago Tribune, the musical "Groundhog Day" opened after a couple of problems like technical issues along with Andy's Injury during a dance. He tweaked his knee but finished the show like a pro. It's come to know that Andy Karl is now fine and doing well.

Andy Karl's mesmerizing stage performance along with Barrett's acting skill, Tim Minchin's wittiest lyrics, Warchus' direction, other cast and crew's performance were the key to success of the Olivier Award winner musical "Groundhog Day". As repetition is the essence of theatre, we expect the musical "Groundhog Day" show to repeat again and again.

Tags"Groundhog Day"; the musical update, "Groundhog Day"; the musical, Andy Karl in "Groundhog Day"; the musical